Decision time: "4th IVF Stimulation" or "Using donor gametes" ?

May to July '16 was more of family joys and less of emotional turmoil. After getting back to Bangalore, I met Dr. Rashmi Yogish on my Day-2 of the next month, and the question remained the same: "Another IVF Stimulation" (4th to be precise) or "Using both donor gametes"?

My DH and I had different views this time, again. He insisted to go for donor gametes, however I wanted to go for the last stimulation. My logic was that if I have to go through all the physical pains of IVF procedure just to try if I could experience motherhood, then why not exhaust my egg reserve than using someone else's. No! I do not have a problem with donor concept but I still have hope; maybe it's not the egg/embryo quality in question but the environment where the embryos are expected to florish. However, ERA test conducted proves that my uterus is Receptive.

Also, it feels a little weird to me. Imagine, I go through the entire IVF process, successful pregnancy, labour and child-birth and then have a baby who neither resembles me nor my DH. WHAT!!! Wouldn't it be super-obvious that either we accidentally got our baby exchanged in the hospital crib or used donor gametes? Come on! If you are so OKAY about the no-resemblance part, then frankly speaking, adopting a child is the best solution! Unfortunately, in today's age also, infertility is treated as a taboo topic and an inauspicious thing. I am not sure how well it is treated outside India but we Indians are driven a lot by "what will people say/think?" and that is more disturbing and frustrating than not being able to conceive. Living in a metropolitan city like Bangalore, I have peer-pressure, I feel horrible for the women in rural areas where women are abused and treated as outcast.

Doctor was in agreement with my logic and wanted to give it a one last try before concluding that its the uterus which needs attention, and not the embryos.

So, we all agreed to go for the last IVF stimulation of my life! Yes, it was a declaration. I have no idea how much one stimulation could  impact one's body, and here I am daring for the 4th one. Frankly, even if this fails, would taking so much risk with my body be a complete waste? Huge amount of money spent on so many IVF cycles can still be earned, but health gone bad once cannot be undone.

Anyhow, we went ahead with the decision of doing OPU in Aug'16.

Moving on with life and inferility

After a positive (although failed pregnancy), my faith on Dr. Rashmi Yogish grew further more. I had total of 4 Day-5 Blastocysts (best one's which survived), out of which two were used in the Nov FET.

After a break of 2-3 months, letting everything come back to normal, my 2nd FET (1 Day-5 Blastocyst) in Mar'16 was a failure too.

Consecutive month was my 3rd FET (1 Day-5 Blastocyst), i.e. in Apr' 16. Despite all possible permutations and combinations of medicines and methods, 3rd FET was also a failure.

Highly disappointed and angry with my fate, I went to visit my parents for a few weeks (that's when I was not writing posts).

I not only refreshed my mind and mood, it also helped me and my DH take a call on what to do next. The question was "Another stimulation with DS" or "Using donor gametes".